Who's worse the kids or the parents...A little humor

[rosto67]

I'm a government school teacher and at this time of the year we get phone calls from parents inquiring about their kids' progress. Today I had two who made me wonder about the future of our youth.

We have these tests called End of Course Tests....This morning I received an email from a parent inquiring about her kid's grade on the "Intercourse" test.

Another mother was ranting about the fact that her son had received a zero for an assignment when he had done it. I had the assignment in front of me and explained that he had done all of the problems wrong. They think if they hand something in they should get credit for it.

[RWReaganfan]

I'm a government school teacher.

I hate the use of the term "government school teacher". Chances are that you are not. The only teachers that are employed by the federal government work for the Department of Defense in DODDS and DODEA.

I work for a county school board. That is hardly "government" in the classic sense.

[rosto67]

I hate the use of the term "government school teacher". Chances are that you are not. The only teachers that are employed by the federal government work for the Department of Defense in DODDS and DODEA.

I work for a county school board. That is hardly "government" in the classic sense.

Get real...Whether federal, state or county it's still the government and the government is never the answer to anything.

[RTchoke]

I'm a government school teacher and at this time of the year we get phone calls from parents inquiring about their kids' progress. Today I had two who made me wonder about the future of our youth.

We have these tests called End of Course Tests....This morning I received an email from a parent inquiring about her kid's grade on the "Intercourse" test.

Another mother was ranting about the fact that her son had received a zero for an assignment when he had done it. I had the assignment in front of me and explained that he had done all of the problems wrong. They think if they hand something in they should get credit for it.

That is exactly what they did at the school my neice went to. They had homework every night. An extra sheet of questions they had to answer. It was never graded or checked. As long as they handed it in they got a 100% on it.
:confused:

[page017]

That is exactly what they did at the school my neice went to. They had homework every night. An extra sheet of questions they had to answer. It was never graded or checked. As long as they handed it in they got a 100% on it.
:confused:

Does an assignment have to be graded to be valuable? Our music teacher requires the kids to practice at home, and they have to turn in a log sheet of when and how long they practiced. Could they lie about it? I'm sure a lot do. There's no way she can accuse them of forging the form. But whether or not they actually practice will make a difference at some point down the road. At this point in the year, I'm telling my kids to study for the final. There's no way for me to grade that, most of them aren't, but for many of them, they will see the difference on the test. If I give my students a homework assignment every night, and don't grade it. Those who are honest about it, and complete the assignment to the best of their ability are still going to be better off than those who never actually attempted it to begin with. Yes, it puts more of the responsibility on the kids to be honest in how they prepare their work and what they get out of it. The biggest problem is it requires the students to actually be motivated to want to learn the material and do well in school. Of course, I tend to stay away from ungraded assignments because thats a pretty lazy thing to do, and most students won't take it seriously if they don't think it will hurt their grade if they don't

[Chucky]

That is exactly what they did at the school my neice went to. They had homework every night. An extra sheet of questions they had to answer. It was never graded or checked. As long as they handed it in they got a 100% on it.
:confused:
Heh heh - that's what I did tutoring in college. People wanted a "grade", so I'd always mark up their homework and give it "100%". The funny part is that it was just tutoring - there was no grade or credit to earn. Maybe I should have offered "extra credit" for correct answers....

[RTchoke]

Does an assignment have to be graded to be valuable? Our music teacher requires the kids to practice at home, and they have to turn in a log sheet of when and how long they practiced. Could they lie about it? I'm sure a lot do. There's no way she can accuse them of forging the form. But whether or not they actually practice will make a difference at some point down the road. At this point in the year, I'm telling my kids to study for the final. There's no way for me to grade that, most of them aren't, but for many of them, they will see the difference on the test. If I give my students a homework assignment every night, and don't grade it. Those who are honest about it, and complete the assignment to the best of their ability are still going to be better off than those who never actually attempted it to begin with. Yes, it puts more of the responsibility on the kids to be honest in how they prepare their work and what they get out of it. The biggest problem is it requires the students to actually be motivated to want to learn the material and do well in school. Of course, I tend to stay away from ungraded assignments because thats a pretty lazy thing to do, and most students won't take it seriously if they don't think it will hurt their grade if they don't

She could have written "The end of the world is near. Repent now. over and over again on the essay questions and written a random number on any number related problems and still gotten 100% on the paper because she turned it in.

I see a problem with that.

[page017]

She could have written "The end of the world is near. Repent now. over and over again on the essay questions and written a random number on any number related problems and still gotten 100% on the paper because she turned it in.

I see a problem with that.

Of course they could, but then whose fault would it be when they flunk the test? At least some of it would need to go to the kids who didn't take their assignment seriously.

But I do agree it's bad practice to assign homework, and then ignore it. There just aren't very many kids who are motivated enough to do a good job for something that won't affect their grade in the short term. It will still affect them long term though, on the tests, and maybe how disiplined and intelligent the student is later in life.

But there are a few ways to grade assignments too. With certain assignments, I grade every question, and give them back the next day. With other assignments, I spot check them at the door to make sure they are done, and check some of the questions to see the quality of work, and then we spend the period talking about the assignment. So it's not like they did a good job for nothing.

I think it depends on grade level too. I would expect a high school student to complete the assignment in an honest way. If they don't, they are only screwing themselves over in the future. With me at least, most of the homework I recieve is either well done, or not done at all. So their grades still end up being 100's or 0's for the most part. I find that if you can get a kid to actually bring their work home and open it up, they will do a pretty decent job. Most of the kids who are non homework do'ers don't get on the bus with any of it in their bag to begin with.

[rosto67]

I just saw a picture of a high school graduation during which the kids hands were squirted with hand-sanitizer before they shook the hands of the board members. Apparently the trustees didn't want to shake the nasty hands of the kids.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/05/29/met_525750.shtml

[RWReaganfan]

Get real...Whether federal, state or county it's still the government and the government is never the answer to anything.

I can vote out my representatives on my local school board, attend the meetings, or write letters to the editor in my local community. I cannot vote out Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, nor do any of those other things to any effect.

[merickson]

Its the OP's class, they know the grade level and the style of instruction better than we do, but my experience at school was that "try and get the wrong answer" was rewarded more than "hand nothing in". The theory being that how to work through a problem is as much a part of the subject matter as getting the right answer.

On the other hand, I've heard parents complain that since college is important for one's job, and since good grades are nessesary to get into college (?in elementry school?, yes I've heard that), therefore every student must be given a good grade.

Off topic, but I couldn't pass this by,Get real...Whether federal, state or county it's still the government and the government is never the answer to anything. Even national defense? I guess my math training about the meaning of "never" was stronger than my training in spelling.

[EnchantedFrog]

I had the assignment in front of me and explained that he had done all of the problems wrong.
If every single problem done was wrong, the parent should be demanding an explanation from the teacher ... as to why the teacher completely failed her child.

[angelicmadrigal]

If every single problem done was wrong, the parent should be demanding an explanation from the teacher ... as to why the teacher completely failed her child.

I have a feeling this is more the case of the child just half assing the assignment, which has NOTHING to do withthe failure of the teacher and everything to do with the child's own laziness.

[Apatriot]

That is exactly what they did at the school my neice went to. They had homework every night. An extra sheet of questions they had to answer. It was never graded or checked. As long as they handed it in they got a 100% on it.
:confused:

Some teachers (myself included) have the philosophy that homework is practice, and it should be graded only on completion, not on accuracy. Regardless, in rostov's case, they knew his policy, so there's no excuse.

[Apatriot]

She could have written "The end of the world is near. Repent now. over and over again on the essay questions and written a random number on any number related problems and still gotten 100% on the paper because she turned it in.

I see a problem with that.

Well, when I taught, I told the kids that the answers had to be true attempts. I would generally read a few answers to make sure 1) it was the right material and 2) they truly attempted it. THe thing is, most kids who attempt it try their best. I had few who were totally slack, etc.

[Apatriot]

IMHO, math answers have to be correct- and kids should show their work so that teachers can do an error analysis. So math homework should be checked and graded. Other types of HW, such as reading response, have much wider latitude.


I agree that the correct answer should be gone over, but I don't think they should be graded for it. Grades for correct answers, IMHO, should only be important on tests. Also, it's a matter of practicality. It's not humanly possible for a teacher with 100 students to grade 20 homework problems for correctness every night.

[RWReaganfan]

I agree that the correct answer should be gone over, but I don't think they should be graded for it. Grades for correct answers, IMHO, should only be important on tests. Also, it's a matter of practicality. It's not humanly possible for a teacher with 100 students to grade 20 homework problems for correctness every night.

You would be surprised how many parents do not seem to understand that.

[MorningSon]

who's worse the kids or the parents?

how about another or...or the administration? Here's some more humor in that regards to you guys may enjoy in becoming a teacher (http://teacherportal.com/become-a-teacher):

http://teacherportal.com/teacher-training-video-no-teacher-left-standing

-MS